Hear Quintus McCormick talk about his new Delmark record Hey Jody plus hear songs from the CD.
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 111 – Quintus McCormick – Hey Jody! [36:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Delmark Records has been releasing some very well received records this year. As you recalled we spoke to Bob Koester the founder of Delmark Records back in May about their release of 55 Years Of Blues (click here to hear that show). This was a great overview of just some of the great artists that have been on Delmark in the last 55 years. It Ain’t Over: Delmark Celebrates 55 Years of Blues was another version but this time from a live concert celebrating Delmark Records 55 years in the business. Both cds also have DVD’s available to go with them. Eddie C. Campbell came out with the popular Tear This World Up, Zora Young came out with her blend of Chicago blues, gospel, jazz, deep Mississippi blues and country music on The French Connection. Last week they released the much anticipated cd by Tail Dragger called Live at Rooster’s Lounge. I know you haven’t forgotten the great show we had on Shirley Johnson’s record Blues Attack (click here to hear that show). Well now, Delmark Records has outdone themselves with the release of the Quintus McCormick Blues Band’s first record Hey Jody! This is a record that should be on everyone’s play list. With beautiful melodies, fine arrangements, heart felt vocals by Quintus, as well as his beautiful guitar playing this is a CD you will not be able to stop playing. He also wrote or co-wrote fourteen of the fifteen tracks on Hey Jodie. Quintus told me that you have to play from the heart. If you don’t feel it, if you don’t believe what you’re singingabout, people can tell you’re a phony. Quintus is no phony he is the real deal. He has a degree in music and really knows how music works but I really think it’s his loving heart that is speaking more than his knowledge of music theory.

Most of this cd would be considered R&B, with blues and soul influences but what ever category it falls into it’s just beautiful music. The song “Get You Some Business” is about someone fooling around where they shouldn’t be but it’s really just a backdrop to some wonderful music. “All Goes Around Comes Around” has some of Quintus’ most wicked raw guitar playing on the whole record. Hopefully when he plays it live he extends this even more. “Fifty Fifty” is a funky rock song with horns and the lyrics are about a couple who split everything fifty fifty. Quintus’ manager is from Plano, Texas and asked Quintus if he could write a song about the place he was from and that’s how he come up with “Plano Texas Blues”. “I Wasn’t Thinkin” is more of a gospel style song that is very enjoyable to hear. Speaking of enjoyable the record ends with “Let The Good Times Roll”. A fun ending to another wonderful Delmark record.

In this weeks show you will be hearing some of the real gems on Hey Jodie! but there are many more on the record we just didn’t have time to play. Please call your local radio station to request the song “Hey Jodie!” or better yet buy the CD from Delmark Records.

Songs you will hear from the record Hey Jodie!
Get That Money
I’m a Good Man, Baby
You Should Learn from This
You Got to Do Me Better Than That
Hey Jodie! (Take Good Care of My Baby)

Quintus McCormick MySpace

Buy Quintus McCormick’s CD from Delmark Record’s record store Jazz Record Mart

Buy Quintus McCormick’s CD from Amazon.com

I would like to thank Quintus McCormick for taking time to do the interview with me.
Thanks to Kevin Johnson for all his help in setting everything up.
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Blues Music and Interviews
A1Blues.Com
formerly A1 Artist Spotlight. Com
by A1 Mark

Laurie Morvan will be talking about her new record that just came out two days ago called Fire It Up. You will also be hearing some of the fiery tracks from the record.

 

 110 - Laurie Morvan Band – Fire It Up [38:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Fire It Up is Laurie Morvan’s fourth record and third with the Laurie Morvan Band. As the title implies this is a record that is ready to catch fire. It should do so both in popularity as well as with the good old blues rockin’ sound it provides. Nothing this good happens with out lots of hard work and Laurie has sure paid her dues. Growing up in Illinois in the US her father walked out on her and her mother when she was only five years old. They struggled for many years till her mother remarried. The new family bought some property in rural Illinois where they built their own home with their own hands. Laurie played flute in the high school band, drums in the marching band, and managed to earn twelve varsity letters during her four years there. This is the same time she took up the guitar which she thought was the greatest thing ever. Laurie went to college to get a degree in Electrical Engineering. She also went to the Institute of Aviation and got a license for private, commercial, instrument, and a multi-engine pilot’s license. She also got a full scholarship for playing volleyball. As Laurie says in the show after college she moved to Los Angeles to take a job in the aerospace industry or to play in a rock band. Well, she moved there to do one of them and the other just happened to be there too.

Eventually playing in bands became a full time job with all the spare time being used to practice the guitar. She decided it was time to record a record but needed money to do it right. Laurie went back to school to get her Master’s Degree in Applied Mathematics and taught math in college until she had enough money to make her first record. The band was call Backroad Shack and in 1997 they put out their first record called Out In The Woods. The band changed the name to Laurie Morvan Band and released Find My Way Home in 2004. Cures What Ails Ya come out in 2007 to great acclaim with articles about her appearing in Guitar Player, Vintage Guitar and Blues Revue, among others. The CD made it into the top five of the Blues Foundation’s Best Self-Produced CD.

Now this week the Laurie Morvan Band has released their fourth CD called Fire It Up.
Laurie described the first track “Nothin’ But The Blues” as a front porch twinge country blues feel. She said a friend called her and one day to tell her he had a dream and she needed to quit doing blues and start playing stadium rock. Laurie laughed and went on to explain how much she loves the blues, how passionate she is for the blues, and how she will be grinning on stage because she loves what she is doing so much. For Laurie “Nothin’ But The Blues” is not just a song, it is a great passion that comes through in her songs. Laurie said she likes walking around the house with her guitar unplugged, practicing this helps her to think. One day while doing this she came up with the main riff of “Come On Over To My BBQ” then had fun adding in a bunch of double entendres. She said this song was made to have fun listening to and that is very true. “Good Girls Bad Girls” is another fun song about how people talk about someone else’s problems but in the end they too have skeletons in their closets. “Let Me Carry Your Troubles” is a very nice acoustic ballad about one of her friends who was diagnosed with breast cancer, luckily she is ok now and we have this beautiful song. All the songs on Fire It Up were written by Laurie Morvan. As you will hear in the show these songs are just the start of a very good record that should be getting even more attention than her last record. It takes a lot of hard work to break out from the rest and get noticed but as you have seen hard work has never stopped this passionate blues rockin’ guitar loving’ player from accomplishing what she wants. There is one thing left for you to do, go to Laurie Morvan’s Website and buy this new CD then Fire It Up.

Songs in the show are:
Skinny Chicks
Cafe Boogaloo
I Speak The Blues
Livin’ In A Mans World

Laurie Morvan Band Website

Laurie Morvan Band MySpace

Buy Laurie Morvan Band’s Cd’s at their website store

Buy Laurie Morvan Band’s Cd’s at Amazon.Com

Thanks to Laurie Morvan for taking time to be on the show.
Thanks to Mark Pucci for setting everything up.

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Blues Music and Interviews
A1Blues.Com
formerly A1 Artist Spotlight. Com
by A1 Mark

Hear Sean Chambers talk about his new album, Ten Til Midnight, as well as the songs from it.
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 109 - Sean Chambers – Ten Til Midnight [34:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Sean Chambers grew up in Tampa Bay, Florida, which is about 30 minutes from where he is currently living in Florida. When he was around ten years old he got his first guitar and would play with a bunch of his friends. Sean also liked sports. He played baseball but his real thing was football. After the first half of his freshman year in high school he found football was taking up too much of his time. That is, too much of his guitar time. Sean played in several cover bands, doing songs by different blues-rock artists. In 1998 he released his first record called Strong Temptation. In this week’s show Sean talks about being Hubert Sumlin’s musical director and guitarist. This lasted from 1998 to 2003 and took Sean and his band around the world as Hubert’s backup band. In 2005 Sean put out his second record called Humble Spirits. He’s also been the opening act for blues artists coming through Florida like Robert Cray, B.B. King, and Buddy Guy. In a few weeks he will be opening for Johnny Winter, and then for Robin Trower.

This past Tuesday Sean Chambers’s third record came out called Ten Til Midnight. As you will hear in the show this is a raw blues-rock record with a lot of guitar. This is no slick record it’s just the raw and real blues-rock.

The band is simple just:
Sean Chambers on guitar & vocals
Paul Broderick on drums
Tim Blair on bass
A couple keyboard players drop in on a few songs as well as Garry Keith who blows harp on one song. The band travels as a trio although Garry does show up some times to plow harp on a few songs.

Sean wrote all but three of the songs on Ten Til Midnight. The song “You’re Gonna Miss Me” is a fast pace fun rocker written by Guitar Slim but Sean and the boys really take it up a notch or two. Then “In the Winter Time” is a powerful slow blues that really shows off Sean’s guitar playing, as you will hear in the show. The Luther Allison song “All the Kings Horses” is covered on this record too. I played the songs back to back and it’s pretty much a tie as to which version is the best but hey if you can tie with Luther Allison you’re a winner in my book. The sound quality is better on Ten Til Midnight it’s a little fuller and stronger. Luther’s was recorded about fifteen years ago. “Make It Go” and “When I Get Lonely” are both very good as you will hear in the show. One song I really wanted to play but just couldn’t kick any of the other songs out to make room for is “I Don’t Know Why”. This is the last song on Ten Til Midnight, and it’s just Sean playing an acoustic slide guitar and Garry Keith blowing harp. Boy what a nice way to end this all-electric blues-rockin record. Sean said the title of the record Ten Til Midnight was the time most of the record seemed to get recorded but it will probably be the time you’ll be staying listening to it.

If you like what you hear in the show you will love all the other songs on Sean Chambers’ Ten Til Midnight please buy the CD.

Songs in this week’s show:
Blues & Rock ‘N’ Roll
Make It Go
When I Get Lonely
Ten Til Midnight
In the Winter Time

Sean Chambers’ Website

Sean Chambers’ MySpace

Buy Sean Chambers’ Ten Til Midnight Amazon.Com

Buy Sean Chambers’ Ten Til Midnight iTunes

Thanks to Sean Chambers for taking time to be on this show.
Thanks to Mark Pucci Media for setting everything up.
Thanks to Rick Lusher for turning me on to this great CD.

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Blues Music and Interviews
A1Blues.Com
formerly A1 Artist Spotlight. Com
by A1 Mark

Hear songs from Tinsley Ellis’s new CD Speak No Evil, as well as hearing Tinsley talk about how he got started and the new record.
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 108 - Tinsley Ellis - Speak No Evil [35:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

If you’re new to Tinsley Ellis you have some real catching up to do. With over a dozen records out, spanning from the early eighties to the newest one Speak No Evil that came out on Alligator Records just two days ago. Tinsley Ellis is a proud southern blues-rock artist that has had some very well received records like the critically acclaimed Storm Warning, Moment of Truth, and Live! Highwayman. Live! Highwayman was made even better by the fact that he let his fan pick the songs for the record by way of the internet. Now that’s a man that really wants to please his fans.

In the show Tinsley talks about his first time meeting B.B. King as a young teenager, and then later getting to know B.B. much better. Like many of us the British blues-rock bands like The Rolling Stones, Yardbirds, The Animals, and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac moved him. As he dug more into the blues he found B.B. and Freddie King as well as many more blues string binders, as he likes to call them. After playing in several bands, including the Alley Cats and The Heartfixers, Tinsley found himself as the only original member of The Heartfixers by the time their fourth record came out. Wisely he decided to change the name of the band to Tinsley Ellis. This way there would be no confusion on who was the boss and what music they would play. Right about this time Tinsley was signed to Alligator Records for whom he has recorded almost all the records for over the past twenty some years for.

Tinsley Ellis said Speak No Evil is a “guitar driven southern blues-rock” record, because it is on Alligator Records and Bruce Iglauer, the founder, likes to capture a vibe, a house rockin sound. Speak No Evil definitely has that house rockin vibe. The record kicks off with “Sunlight of Love” a hard-hitting blues-rocker with a lot of wah-wah guitar that lets you know this will be a good time. This is followed by the song “Slip and Fall” with good hooks and lead guitar this should be the song the radio stations will be playing. “It Takes What It Takes” is a well done slower southern blues song. Tinsley said his song “The Other Side” is kind of like a Peter Green “Oh Well” type of song. “Cold Love, Hot Night” was almost left off the record but we got lucky and it was added. He describes it as being kind of like a Robert Cray song. It’s nice because it comes in at about the middle of the record and adds a different style to what you have been hearing. The title track “Speak No Evil” was written for Guitar Shorty to do, but Bruce talked Tinsley into recording the song. They liked the song so much that this became the title of the record.

Tinsley has written songs for other artists. One that impressed me was “Easy Come, Easy Go” on Michael Burks’ latest record Iron Man. Tinsley said that Michael nailed the song so good he didn’t even want to try doing it on Speak No Evil, this is now Michael’s song.
He went on to praise how wonderful an artist Michael Burks is. If you have not heard my show on Michael Burks here is a link to that.

If you go to Alligator Records they have an autograph copy you can buy of Tinsley Ellis’s Speak No Evil, while supplies last. If you like the four songs played in the show you will love the whole CD. Tinsley will also be doing an extensive tour. Check tour dates out at Alligator Records and go see his show, my calendar is marked.

Songs played in this week’s show:
“Slip & Fall”
“Loving For Today”
“Amanda”
“Sunlight of Love”

Tinsley Ellis’s Website

Tinsley Ellis’s MySpace

Buy Speak No Evil from Alligator Records

Buy Speak No Evil from Amazon.Com

Check out other artists on Alligator Records
Like Tommy Castro, Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, Buckwheat Zydeco, or how about Michael Burks

Thanks to Tinsley Ellis for taking time to do this interview.
Thanks to Bruce Iglauer for setting everything up.
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Blues Music and Interviews
A1Blues.Com
formerly A1 Artist Spotlight. Com
by A1 Mark

Joe Louis Walker released Between A Rock & The Blues two days ago. Now you will hear Joe talk about this new record and hear some new tracks from it.

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 107 - Joe Louis Walker – Between A Rock & The Blues [36:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

As you may recall at the beginning of this year I spoke to Joe about his last record Witness to the Blues (To hear that show click here) which came out on September 30, 2008. One year later Stony Plain Records blesses us with another great Joe Louis Walker record Between A Rock & The Blues. As you will hear in this weeks show Joe was in an up beat and fun mood. He jokes about how rock artists go out to find their blues roots, but he went out to find his rock roots. From the opening track of “I’m Tide” with a it’s wonderful scorching guitar solos to the back porch sound of the last track “Send You Back” everything is first class, with a band that can make every song a special treat. Bruce Katz is back again on piano and organ. Duke Robillard is also back as the producer, as well as playing guitar on one of the songs he wrote called “Tell Me Why”. Joe explains in the show why Duke is so important to have as a producer. Two of songs “I’ve Been Down” and “If There’s A Heaven” are done with a different band but you would never know by listening. They fit in just right with all the other songs. “Eyes Like A Cat” is a fun jazzy-blues dance song with Bruce Katz laying down great piano, while Doug James on saxophone and Carl Queforth on trombone make the song swing. Joe’s playing on “Hallways” is just beautiful. This is one of the songs you really need to buy the CD for. Its seven minutes long so the radio stations will probably not play it, but wow it really is a good example of why Joe Louis Walker is at the top of his game. “Blackjack” the old Ray Charles song is another example of Joe showing how talented he is. In blues its not about how many notes you can play but the feelings you can draw out of those notes. Joe as well as his band has this down pat. Joe’s vocals always sound good, but on “Black Widow” he takes it to new highest. Though there are many songs on this record that deserve airplay like “Eyes Like A Cat”, “Black Widow”, or “Way Too Expensive,” which the band really goes to town on. For me “I’m Tide” should be the hit off this record. As you will hear in the show this really is a great song. Please call your local radio station to request songs from this record if you’re not hearing them already. Joe Louis Walker has had a long career of putting out great blues records, and this new one on Stony Plain Records is no exception.

One last thing I’d like to talk to you about is that over the years I’ve always asked you to support the artists by buying their CD’s. Another thing you should think about is when you support the blues artists you support their labels too. These blues labels are small. They don’t have the big million seller artists like the bigger labels do. We all know the blues genre is not very big, and the artists, as well as their labels, are working hard to stay afloat just like the rest of us. From time to time I speak to Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records. This is perhaps the largest of the blues labels, which is still very small compared to Columbia or any of the others labels. Even Bruce says, “Business is a struggle.” With so many people not paying for the music they get, both the artists as well as the small blues labels are getting hurt. When these labels go under we will have far less good music to listen to. The big labels have shown they have no interest in our music. In the end we will be the losers, with very little music to choose from. PLEASE support the artists and their labels BUY their CD’s. Keep the blues alive.

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Joe Louis Walker’s Website

Joe Louis Walker’s MySpace

Buy Joe Louis Walker’s CD Between A Rock & The Blues

Buy Joe Louis Walker’s last CD Witness to the Blues

Check out Stony Plain Records for some other great artists like Ronnie Earl, Duke Robillard, Maria Muldaur, Rory Block, Ian Tyson, Sunny And Her Joy Boys, & Jeff Healey.

I would like to thank Joe Louis Walker for taking the time to do this interview. Thanks also to Dave Jones at Cathouse Music for setting everything up and Stony Plain Records for permission to play the songs. Photos by Robin Poritzky-Walker.

Blues Music and Interviews A1Blues.Com
formerly A1 Artist Spotlight. Com
by A1 Mark